liz truss biography

Who Is Liz Truss?

Oxford-born Liz Truss began her political rise as a Conservative MP from South West Norfolk in 2010. She became the youngest female cabinet member in British history in 2014, the first female lord chancellor in 2016 and the first female Conservative foreign secretary in 2021. Truss won her party's race to replace U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in September 2022, but her tenure was marred by ill-fated economic proposals. She announced her resignation just six weeks later.

How Old Is Liz Truss?

Mary Elizabeth Truss was born in Oxford, England, on July 26, 1975.

Early Years and Education

Following another year abroad in British Columbia, Canada, Truss returned to England to attend the comprehensive Roundhay School in Leeds. Although she later criticized her educational experience at Roundhay, her sterling grades resulted in acceptance to the University of Oxford's Merton College.

An ardent member and eventual president of Oxford's Liberal Democrats, Truss advocated for the legalization of cannabis and famously denounced the monarchy in one speech. She also was involved with Oxford's Hayek Society, which celebrated the work of Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek, before graduating in 1996 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

Early Career

Truss joined Shell as a graduate trainee in 1996 and settled in as a commercial manager for the energy giant. She then moved on to the telecommunications company Cable & Wireless, where she served as economics director until her departure in 2005.

Her political ambitions crystalizing, Truss became deputy director of the public services think tank Reform from 2008-10, during which time she contributed to papers about educational and economic policy.

Member of Parliament

After switching to the Conservative Party in 1996, Truss unsuccessfully ran for the House of Commons as a candidate from Hemsworth in 2001 and Calder Valley in 2005. She became a councillor for Eltham South in 2006 and finally won a coveted MP seat from South West Norfolk in 2010 after weathering reports of her affair with a political mentor.

Truss soon formed the Free Enterprise Group among like-minded MPs, who caused a stir with a 2012 publication, Britannia Unchained , that accused British workers of being "among the worst idlers in the world." Around that time, she was appointed under secretary of state for education and childcare and further boosted her profile with a publicized trip to Shanghai in early 2014 to investigate how Chinese children performed so well in math and science.

Cabinet Roles

In July 2014, the 38-year-old Truss became the youngest female cabinet member in British history with her appointment as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Although she sought to draw more tech-minded employees to the food industry, she perhaps was best known during this time for emphatically declaring the U.K.'s importing of cheese to be a "disgrace." Truss also used her platform to push for the U.K. to " remain " in the European Union, before later changing sides to champion the Brexit cause.

Truss broke down another barrier by becoming the first official female lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice in July 2016. However, her time in the department was short-lived after struggling to defend the judiciary from tabloid attacks. Moving on to chief secretary to the treasury the following year, she found a better home for her free-market ideals and cultivated a regular presence on social media.

Named the secretary of state for international trade and president of the Board of Trade in August 2019, Truss successfully negotiated post-Brexit deals with more than five dozen countries. She also became the minister for women and equalities during this time, though she was accused of both shirking the responsibilities of the position and a disregard for transgender rights .

Another cabinet shuffle in September 2021 made Truss the first female member of her party to hold the post of secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs. Along with taking a tough stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Truss negotiated the safe return of British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori to their families, but also threatened upheaval with her stated desire to revisit the Northern Ireland protocol.

Three days after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation on July 7, 2022, Truss threw her hat into the ring to become the Conservative Party leader and new prime minister until the next general election. Although she consistently trailed former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak after several rounds of voting among Conservative MPs, 57 percent of the party's rank-and-file favored the foreign secretary, and on September 5, 2022, Truss was declared the winner of the race.

Prime Minister

Shortly after formally accepting the prime minister role in what turned out to be Queen Elizabeth II's final royal engagement , Truss drew praise for her public composure as the world mourned the death of the longest-serving British monarch.

From there, things rapidly went downhill for the new premier. Following her promise to cap household energy bills for two years, the tax cuts presented in Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng's " mini-budget " spooked investors to the point where the Bank of England stepped in to steady skyrocketing interest rates and the plummeting British pound.

Truss subsequently scrapped the planned tax cuts for top earners and corporations and forced Kwarteng to resign in mid-October. However, new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt further gutted her agenda by eliminating the basic income tax rate reduction and shortening the energy-bill freeze from two years to six months.

The chaos continued when Home Secretary Suella Braverman admitted to using a personal email for official correspondence and tendered her resignation on October 19. Later that day, a motion to vote on a government fracking bill in the House of Commons reportedly resulted in Conservative MPs bullying colleagues to support the measure.

Resignation

On October 20, 2022, Truss announced that she was stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party and would relinquish her role as prime minister when a replacement was chosen.

Acknowledging her missteps "at a time of great economic and international instability," she declared she "cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party."

Truss's resignation announcement came on her 45th day in office, giving her the shortest tenure of any UK prime minister.

Husband and Children

Truss met accountant Hugh O'Leary at a Conservative Party conference in 1997. They survived an awkward first date in which he sprained his ankle and were married in 2000, their union producing daughters Liberty and Frances.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1975
• Birth date: July 26, 1975
• Birth City: Oxford
• Birth Country: England
• Best Known For: Liz Truss became the United Kingdom's shortest-serving prime minister when she resigned after less than two months in the role in October 2022.
• Politics and Government
• Astrological Sign: Leo
• University of Oxford
• Roundhay School In Leeds
• Interesting Facts
• Truss has said her political hero is former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
• Occupations
• Political Figure

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Liz Truss Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/political-figure/mary-elizabeth-truss
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: October 28, 2022
• Original Published Date: October 28, 2022
• We import two-thirds of our cheese. That is a disgrace.
• I recognize though, given the situation, I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.
• My mum was a member of the CND and I have memories of going on marches with her when I was a child, so I suppose I had an awareness of and an interest in politics from quite an early age.

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The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP

Elizabeth Truss was Prime Minister from 6 September 2022 to 25 October 2022. She was previously Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from 15 September 2021. She was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities on 10 September 2019. She was elected as the Conservative MP for south west Norfolk in 2010.

Elizabeth studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford.

Political career

Elizabeth entered Parliament in 2010. She was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare in September 2012. Elizabeth served as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from July 2014 until July 2016.

Elizabeth was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from July 2016 until June 2017. She was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from June 2017 until July 2019.

Career outside politics

Elizabeth was previously Deputy Director at Reform. She also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director, and is a qualified management accountant.

Personal life

Elizabeth is married with 2 children.

Follow Liz Truss on Twitter: @trussliz and on LinkedIn .

Previous roles in government

• 2022 to 2022
• 2021 to 2022
• 2019 to 2022
• 2019 to 2021
• 2017 to 2019
• 2016 to 2017
• 2014 to 2016
• 2012 to 2014

Announcements

Subscriptions.

• 29 August 2023
• Policy paper
• 29 June 2023
• 28 February 2023
• 21 November 2022
• 25 October 2022
• 20 October 2022
• 19 October 2022
• Press release
• 14 October 2022
• Correspondence

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What Happened With Liz Truss in Britain? A Guide to the Basics.

A little over six weeks into her leadership, the British prime minister said she would resign.

By Daniel Victor

LONDON — The rapid political collapse of Liz Truss ended as she announced her resignation on Thursday , a little more than six weeks after she became Britain’s leader. Her agenda had floundered, her own party had turned on her and commentators widely speculated on whether she could outlast a head of lettuce . She couldn’t.

She had pledged to shoulder through the turmoil despite widespread calls for her resignation. But minute by minute the heat on her grew until there was no path out.

If you need to get caught up, here is a guide to the basics.

Who is Liz Truss and how did she become prime minister?

Ms. Truss was anointed on Sept. 6 to replace Boris Johnson, who was elected by voters in 2019 but who flamed out in spectacular fashion after a series of scandals, forcing him to step down in July.

The general public did not elect Ms. Truss — instead, she won a leadership contest among members of her Conservative Party. To replace Mr. Johnson, the party’s members of Parliament narrowed a field of candidates to two, who were then put up to a vote by about 160,000 dues-paying party members. (They’re an unrepresentative group of the nation’s 67 million residents, far more likely to be male, older, middle-class and white.)

Ms. Truss, 47, had been Mr. Johnson’s hawkish foreign secretary, a free-market champion and eventual supporter of Brexit ( after she changed her mind ), winning over the right flank of the party despite her more moderate past. (Before joining the Conservative Party, she was a member of the centrist Liberal Democrats when she was a student at Oxford University.)

How did it start to come undone?

She was never going to have it easy. As Ms. Truss entered office, the nation was staring down a calamitous economic picture, highlighted by energy bills that were predicted to jump 80 percent in October and jump again in January. It threatened to send millions of Britons, already reeling from inflation and other challenges, spiraling into destitution, unable to heat or power their homes.

So it was unwelcome news when her signature economic plans immediately made things worse.

Her announced plans for tax cuts, deregulation and borrowing so alarmed global investors that the value of the British pound sank to a record low against the U.S. dollar. The Bank of England stepped in to prop up government bonds, an extraordinary intervention to calm the markets.

The response left no doubt that her free-market ambitions were untenable. In a humiliating reversal, she was forced to reverse virtually all of the tax cuts this week, including a much-criticized one on high earners . She fired Kwasi Kwarteng , the chancellor of the Exchequer who was the architect of the plan and a close ally, and adopted economic policies favored by the opposition Labour party.

“You cannot engage in the sort of U-turn that she has engaged in and retain your political credibility,” said Jon Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool.

How did her tenure come under threat?

Her concessions did little to mollify a growing rebellion from within her own party, which had the power to topple her in much the same way it toppled Mr. Johnson.

The Conservatives — also known as Tories — had seen their popularity decline in public opinion polls after Mr. Johnson’s scandals, and their numbers cratered to staggering new lows as Ms. Truss stumbled. A Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll this week revealed the lowest approval rating it had ever recorded for a prime minister, with 70 percent disapproving of Ms. Truss, including 67 percent of Conservatives.

If a general election were held today, 56 percent would vote for Labour while 20 percent would vote Conservative, the poll found.

The Conservative Party’s discontent with Ms. Truss crescendoed in turn, and she was enveloped with a palpable sense of crisis. On Wednesday, it boiled into a frantic fight for her survival — “I’m a fighter and not a quitter,” she said while being grilled by members of Parliament.

Then even more chaos broke out. Suella Braverman, Britain’s interior minister, stepped down after an email breach, but took a swipe at Ms. Truss in her resignation letter, saying she had “concerns about the direction of this government.” A vote on fracking in Parliament turned into a reported scene of bullying, shouting, physical manhandling and tears. More Conservative members of Parliament openly called for Ms. Truss to step down. Rumors swirled of high-profile resignations. It was difficult to keep up.

“In short, it is total, absolute, abject chaos,” a news announcer said on iTV . Charles Walker, a Conservative lawmaker, did not hold back in an interview on BBC .

On Thursday, she said she had handed her resignation to the king, with a new leadership election planned within a week.

What comes next?

Conservatives plan to have the next prime minister chosen by the end of next week, and as early as Monday. ( Here are the likely front-runners .)

The party has opted for a streamlined process designed to avoid a drawn-out campaign. Candidates must receive 100 nominations among 357 Conservative lawmakers by 2 p.m. Monday. If only one candidate reaches the threshold, that person would become the prime minister.

If two candidates reach 100 nominations, lawmakers will vote to indicate which one has more support among them. If the second-place finisher does not drop out, the roughly 160,000 party members will vote in an online poll that ends on Friday.

If three candidates cross the threshold, the lawmaker vote on Monday will eliminate one candidate, with the top two finishers advancing to the online vote.

Whoever wins will be Britain’s second unelected leader in a row. Ms. Truss will remain prime minister until her successor steps in.

The next general election — when the entire public can participate, and the next opportunity for Labour to take control — is not scheduled until January 2025 at the latest. A Conservative leader could call for one earlier, but they would have little reason to do so imminently since polls indicate the party would be wiped out by Labour.

Mr. Tonge said one advantage Conservatives have is time — the party could theoretically regain credibility if the economy recovers in the following years, he said.

“I don’t think that changing the leader will necessarily save the Conservatives,” he said. “But you can engage in damage limitation by doing so.”

Daniel Victor is a general assignment reporter based in London after stints in Hong Kong and New York. He joined The Times in 2012. More about Daniel Victor

Who is Liz Truss? Britain's next PM is popular with her party — but what about voters?

Expect 'a lot of fireworks, and a lot of controversy and a lot of action,' says acquaintance and commentator.

Social Sharing

As a child, Liz Truss marched in demonstrations against Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As an adult, she came to admire Britain's first female leader — and now she is about to enter 10 Downing Street with a Thatcherite zeal to transform the U.K. after winning the race to succeed Boris Johnson.

The party said Truss, Britain's current foreign secretary, won about 57 per cent of Conservative members' votes, compared with about 43 per cent for ex-treasury chief Rishi Sunak.

Truss, 47, will become Britain's third female prime minister, after Thatcher, who governed from 1979 to 1990, and Theresa May, who held office from 2016 to 2019.

• Liz Truss vows tax cuts as next British PM after winning Conservative leadership

Fellow party members have embraced Truss's vows to slash taxes and red tape and keep up Britain's staunch support for Ukraine. But to critics, she is an inflexible ideologue whose right-wing policies won't help Britain weather the economic turmoil set off by the pandemic, Brexit and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mark Littlewood, a libertarian commentator who has known Truss since their university days, said she's less a conservative than a "radical" who — like Thatcher — wants to "roll back the intervention of the state" in people's lives.

"I'm expecting a lot of fireworks, and a lot of controversy and a lot of action," he said.

• WATCH | Truss vows to help people in Britain who are reeling from inflation: 

Liz Truss promises 'bold plan' as new U.K. Conservative Party leader

'headstrong and determined and outspoken'.

Born in Oxford in 1975, Mary Elizabeth Truss is the daughter of a math professor and a nurse who took her on anti-nuclear and anti-Thatcher protests as a child, where she recalled shouting: "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie — out, out, out!"

In a 2018 speech, she said she began developing her own political views early, "arguing against my socialist parents in our left-wing household."

After attending public high school, Truss went on to Oxford University, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics — the degree of choice for many aspiring politicians — and was president of the university branch of the Liberal Democratic Party. The economically centrist Lib Dems back constitutional reform and civil liberties, and Truss was an enthusiastic member, putting up "Free the Weed" posters that called for decriminalization of marijuana and arguing in a speech for the abolition of the monarchy.

Littlewood, who was a fellow member of the Oxford Lib Dems and now heads the Institute for Economic Affairs, a free-market think-tank, remembers Truss as "headstrong, and determined and outspoken."

"You were never in any doubt where she stood on an issue or a person," he said.

Anti-Brexit but called herself 'euroskeptic'

After Oxford, Truss joined the Conservative Party "when it was distinctly unfashionable," she later said.

She worked as an economist for energy company Shell and telecommunications firm Cable and Wireless, and for a right-of-centre think-tank while becoming involved in Conservative politics and espousing free market Thatcherite views. She ran unsuccessfully for Parliament twice before getting elected to represent the eastern England seat of Southwest Norfolk in 2010.

She founded the Free Enterprise group of Thatcherite Tory lawmakers who produced "Britannia Unchained," a political treatise that notoriously included the claim that British workers are "among the worst idlers in the world."

In Britain's 2016 referendum on whether to leave the European Union, Truss backed the losing "remain" side, though she says she was always a natural euroskeptic. Since the vote, she has won over Brexiteers with her uncompromising approach to the EU.

She became justice secretary, but was demoted by May to a more junior role in the Treasury in 2017. When May was toppled by her repeated failure to break a political deadlock over Brexit, Truss was an early backer of Johnson to replace her. When he won, Johnson made Truss trade secretary, a role in which she used Instagram to get recognition around the world, signing post-Brexit trade deals and raising her profile.

Mixed reviews as foreign secretary

In September 2021, she was appointed foreign secretary, Britain's top diplomat. Her performance has drawn mixed reviews. Many praise her firm response to the invasion of Ukraine and she secured the release of two British citizens jailed in Iran, where her predecessors had failed.

But EU leaders and officials who hoped she would bring a softer tone to Britain's relations with the bloc have been disappointed. Amid trade wrangling, Truss introduced legislation to rip up parts of the binding U.K.-EU divorce agreement signed by both sides. The 27-nation bloc is taking legal action against Britain in return.

Truss's perceived loyalty to Johnson, who remains popular with many Tories, also helped her win the leadership. Many party members cited Sunak's decision to quit Johnson's cabinet in July as a mark against him. Truss didn't resign, saying she was a "loyal person" — though she had been courting party members for months at "fizz with Liz" events to build support for a potential leadership bid.

• From home heating to beer, staggering energy costs are fuelling Britain's inflation crisis
• Analysis As Britain awaits a new prime minister, its cost-of-living crisis mounts

The wider British electorate is likely to prove a harder audience to win over. Times are tough and getting tougher as inflation soars and Britain's cost-of-living crisis worsens. Truss's focus on stimulating the economy through tax cuts is unlikely to provide much short-term relief.

And she doesn't have long to persuade voters that she is on the right track. The next national election must be held in two years.

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Who is Liz Truss? The prime minister who sees herself as disruptor-in-chief

As Liz Truss enters Downing Street, Tamara Cohen looks at her surprise ascent. Her story has taken her from Liberal Democrat to Tory, Remainer to Brexit enthusiast, awkward speaker to "queen of Instagram", as a colleague put it. She has made her own luck in this contest.

Political correspondent @tamcohen

Monday 5 September 2022 15:24, UK

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A young Liz Truss could hardly have imagined walking through the famous black door of Number Ten as a Conservative prime minister.

After a political journey that has taken her from Liberal Democrat to Tory, Remainer to Brexit enthusiast, awkward speaker to "queen of Instagram", as a colleague put it, she has made her own luck in this contest.

The long-serving cabinet minister had a slow start in the early rounds of voting with MPs, but her optimistic outlook - which her critics say defies reality - and plan to overturn conventional thinking on the economy have won over party members.

Truss will go 'bigger than expected' on energy - politics live updates

But it's now voters she will need to convince, during an unprecedented cost of living squeeze . What does Ms Truss believe, and what kind of prime minister might she be?

David Gauke first crossed paths with Ms Truss in the 1990s when both were Conservative activists, and they later served in cabinet together during the turbulent Brexit battles.

"I think Liz has always been ambitious, she's always been someone who has said to herself, 'Well why not me, why can't I make it to the very top?'" he said.

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Unlike Boris Johnson, he said, she believes in "straightforward Conservative values" such as a smaller state, but is also "an outsider" with a disregard for expert advice.

Ms Truss has vowed to cut taxes , despite concerns about inflation, and challenge economic policies which she says for 20 years have failed to deliver growth.

"She's always been suspicious about the state intervening too much," Mr Gauke said.

"Her temperament is one that is suspicious of establishment. I think she tends to think there is too much power in the hands of risk averse, what she would consider to be defeatist, establishment figures, and that you've got to be bold, and you've got to be brave and you've sometimes got to take on expert opinion.

"I think that's going to be an attribute of her time in government and it's one that I have some worries about."

Mary Elizabeth Truss was born to left-wing parents in Oxford in 1975, the eldest of four siblings. When she was four, the family moved to Paisley, near Glasgow, where her father John, a mathematics professor, was working.

Her mother Priscilla, a nurse, was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and took a young Liz on "ban the bomb" marches where she has spoken of chanting anti-Margaret Thatcher slogans.

Ms Truss has described her parents as "to the left of Labour" and says that although her mother now supports her campaign, she's not sure her father would vote for her.

The family later settled in the affluent Roundhay area of Leeds, living in a row of now smart Edwardian terraces, where she attended Roundhay school, a state comprehensive that she has claimed let pupils down through "low expectations". She credits the experience with inspiring her to go into politics.

Former pupils do not remember her as a strong personality. One who was in the same class said she was "extremely clever and generally regarded as a 'swot' in the terminology of the 1980s and 1990s". A former teacher at the school said she was "clever, but you wouldn't have marked her out".

The school sent a small number of pupils to Oxbridge every year at the time, and she won a place to study politics, philosophy and economics at Merton College, Oxford.

She has described herself during the campaign as a "plain-speaking Yorkshirewoman".

Student radical

Drawn into politics as a student, Ms Truss became president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats and campaigned to abolish the monarchy.

To the dismay of Paddy Ashdown, the party leader, she moved a motion at the party's annual conference in Brighton in 1994, declaring "we Liberal Democrats do not believe people are born to rule."

David Laws, later a cabinet minister in the coalition government, was then a junior adviser to Ashdown and said: "I remember Paddy pacing up and down the press room in Brighton and saying, 'Oh my God, if this motion that Liz is moving, gets passed, that would be the end of the Liberal Democrats'."

By the time she graduated in 1996, Ms Truss had moved towards the Conservatives, and went to work at Shell and later in government relations for Cable & Wireless.

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the company's chairman at the time and a former Labour defence minister, remembers her ambition when the Conservatives were in the doldrums.

"She was very interested in politics and was a Tory, and I encouraged her to go for a seat," he told Sky News. "She was smart and fresh-thinking; I said the Conservative Party needs people like you."

After unsuccessfully contesting two seats in West Yorkshire in 2001 and 2005, she was picked out by David Cameron's "A list" and was selected for the safe seat of Southwest Norfolk in 2009. By then, she had married Hugh O'Leary, an accountant, and had two young daughters.

Members of the local party tried to have Ms Truss, then 34, deselected for failing to declare an earlier affair with Mark Field, a married Conservative MP.

Her battle with party members in the rural constituency - whom newspapers nicknamed the "Turnip Taliban" - made national headlines for weeks. She eventually won them over in a vote and held on to the seat, but the experience nearly derailed her career.

Lord Robertson added: "She's obviously a fighter, she showed real grit when they took her on, and there was an element of prejudice there."

In government

Ms Truss started climbing the ministerial ladder in 2012 as a junior education minister - and tried to push through some controversial reforms to childcare.

Mr Laws, then schools minister in that department, found her determined to drive her ideas through - whatever the criticism.

"I always found Liz to be a very engaging minister, somebody was pleasant to work with," he said.

"But she isn't necessarily one of the world's best listeners. She tends to speak at people and over them rather than listening to their views."

On one occasion, he said, she asked civil servants to draw up a list of staff-to-child ratios at nurseries in other countries to support her proposals. But he says the list they produced did not support her view that Britain was an outlier. "She asked the civil servants to delete that bit from the briefing," Mr Laws said.

He recalled her manner when she travelled to Moscow in February as foreign secretary: "I remember her having that meeting with [Sergey] Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and he described it as a dialogue of the deaf.

"While I've got no sympathy obviously with the Russians, I can imagine how that must have been… she sort of ploughs on and on and on. I had to smile."

As environment secretary, her first cabinet post, she became known for an awkward speech in which she described Britain's cheese imports as "a disgrace".

But more revealing are her speeches and articles campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU alongside Mr Cameron and George Osborne in 2016.

"It's in all of our interests to communicate the real impact on the ground… on jobs on livelihoods, because what we know is less trade would mean fewer and fewer investments," she told an audience at the Food and Drink Federation.

Her change of heart on Brexit, and, as trade secretary, energetic pursuit of deals, many of them rolled over from Britain's EU membership, attracted admirers from the right of the party.

As foreign secretary, she has taken a hard line on Russia, raised the alarm about the threat from China and helped secure the release of Britons held in Iran.

She is passionate about economic issues, and colleagues say it was at the Treasury that her ambitions and image really took off.

Sonia Khan was special adviser to Philip Hammond, the chancellor, when Ms Truss was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury in 2017 - having been demoted by Theresa May after a difficult spell as justice secretary.

"I think the Treasury was the making of Liz, it was where she gained so much confidence after losing her justice job," she said. "She came into her own and revitalised her image. You saw the floral outfits disappear and you saw her wear power suits, and really bold colours, which I think reflected a newfound confidence.

"It's where she discovered social media. She'd found a space to cultivate who she is. She's funny, she's quite good with puns, she's got an eye for making sure a picture looks good.

Ms Khan says her status as "queen of Instagram" boosted her profile within the cabinet. "It was very clear that she had this very, very keen political eye for the policies that she wanted to own and promote on social media."

On taking the Treasury job, she tweeted: "I aim to be to the disruptor-in-chief", saying she wanted to cut red tape and empowering families and businesses.

As prime minister, she's promised radical measures to tackle the cost-of-living squeeze within a week of taking office. Allies say she has the inner steel to drive them through.

But inheriting a grim outlook, and a party deeply divided by this contest, she won't have long to win over some of her colleagues and the public.

Related Topics

• United Kingdom

What To Know About Liz Truss, Britain’s New Prime Minister

N early two months after Boris Johnson reluctantly announced his resignation on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Britain has finally chosen a new leader: Liz Truss.

“It’s an honour to be elected as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party. I’d like to thank the 1922 Committee, the party chairman of the Conservative Party, for organizing one of the longest job interviews in history,” Truss joked , after the results were announced on Monday. “I’d also like to thank my family, my friends, my political colleagues, and all of those who helped on this campaign. I’m incredibly grateful for all of your support.”

Truss’s victory over her leadership rival, the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, had been widely regarded as a foregone conclusion in Westminster. She quickly emerged the runaway favorite among the Conservative Party’s card-carrying members (second only to her erstwhile boss ). Despite the U.K.’s soon-to-be third female leader’s efforts to promote herself as the ideological reincarnate of its first, Margaret Thatcher, Truss is perhaps most aptly seen as the continuity Johnson candidate. And perhaps just as well: After she is formally appointed Prime Minister by the Queen on Sept. 6, Truss’s first order of business will be to tackle the many crises that her predecessor left behind.

Here’s what to know about her.

Who is Liz Truss?

Known for being a political chameleon, Truss has worn several ideological hats over the course of her life. Born in Oxford to a left-wing family, Truss’s childhood often involved joining her mother on demonstrations in favor of nuclear disarmament and against Thatcher’s Conservative government, which ushered in sweeping economic reforms centered around free markets, privatization, and a small state. As a student at Oxford University, she led the centrist Liberal Democrats’ student society and advocated for the abolition of the monarchy . She later switched her allegiance to the Conservative Party—a transition she attributed to maturity. (“We all had teenage misadventures,” Truss told Conservative voters on the campaign trail. “Some people had sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. I had the Liberal Democrats.”)

Revelations that Truss had an affair in the early 2000s with a Conservative lawmaker 10 years her senior threatened to derail her parliamentary ambitions. But she was elected an MP in 2010 and rose through the Tory ranks. In 2014, Truss became the country’s youngest female cabinet minister as environmental secretary in David Cameron’s government and ultimately went on to serve in the cabinets of Theresa May and Johnson.

During the 2016 Brexit referendum, just six years into her tenure as a Conservative lawmaker, Truss became a vocal proponent for the U.K. to stay in the E.U., calling Brexit a “ triple tragedy ” advocated by those “living in cloud cuckoo land.”

Six years on, Truss is an arch-Brexiteer and a standard-bearer of the country’s Euroskeptic, Thatcherite right-wing—a position that made her the natural darling of the Conservative Party faithful. She describes herself as “ relentless ,” which could help explain her rapid rise through the Conservative ranks. She is also seen as fiercely loyal, having been one of the few ministers not to resign during the fall of Johnson’s scandal-plagued premiership. To her critics, however, she is a political opportunist—someone who can tack rapidly and completely to whatever position suits her at the time.

Read More: Why U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson Resigned

How does she compare to Boris Johnson?

From everything Truss has said on the campaign trail, it is clear that she is “broadly continuity Johnson,” says Gavin Barwell, a former Conservative minister and chief of staff to ex-Prime Minister Theresa May. On matters of foreign policy, Truss is in lockstep with her predecessor, especially when it comes to support for Ukraine. On economic policy, however, Truss advocates for tax cuts and offers a perhaps far more divergent view in some areas—particularly when it comes to social spending, where Johnson had bucked his party’s views on limited government.

Like Johnson, Truss is known for having a bit of a goofy public persona—one that is best illustrated by her viral speech on British pork markets. What remains to be seen, however, is whether she will be able to match Johnson’s popularity, especially among the Tory grassroots. “Very few people could match Boris Johson’s charismatic appeal,” says Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London and the head of a research project focusing on the membership of the U.K.’s main political parties. “Liz Truss certainly can’t.”

Perhaps the important commonality will be whether Truss chooses to continue the Johnsonian legacy of undermining British political norms and conventions. Like Johnson, Truss has indicated that she may not appoint a new ethics adviser, a role that is responsible for advising the Prime Minister on ethics in public life. The last two advisers quit over the Johnson government’s failure to adhere to the ministerial code of conduct. But the way Truss sees it, her government won’t be needing such monitoring. “I am somebody who has always acted with integrity,” she said on the campaign trail, “and that is what I would do as Prime Minister.”

What do other world leaders make of her?

As Foreign Secretary, Truss has had plenty of face time with world leaders. But she is bound to face major challenges, especially over her relationship with the U.K.’s European allies. Relations between the U.K. and the E.U. soured earlier this year after Truss introduced legislation that threatens to unilaterally undermine the delicate post-Brexit trading arrangements on the island of Ireland—which is separated by Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland, which is an E.U. member state. As a candidate, Truss pledged to deliver on legislation that will unilaterally scrap checks on goods going between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., despite concerns that it could breach international law.

Truss drew further criticism on the campaign trail for saying that “ the jury’s out ” on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is a friend or foe of the U.K. (Macron, in a seemingly exasperated response , reaffirmed that the U.K. is a friendly nation, “regardless, and sometimes in spite of, its leaders.”)

“That reflected her real gut feeling about dealing with the Europeans,” says Peter Ricketts, a former British diplomat who served as the U.K.’s ambassador to France. “I think we’re headed into even rougher waters with the Europeans, even than under Johnson.”

Another important relationship to watch will be with the White House. Truss has reportedly expressed less enthusiasm for the so-called “special relationship” between the U.S. and the U.K. than past prime ministers. Although she will undoubtedly continue the close cooperation between London and Washington, especially when it comes to shared policy on Russia and China, there is bound to be friction with the Biden Administration over her plans to proceed with rewriting the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Read More: Boris Johnson Shattered Britain’s Political Norms. Ultimately, That Was His Undoing

What is she up against?

At this point, it would be easier to list what she isn’t up against. Truss’s intray is filled with numerous crises left over from the Johnson era, the most daunting of which is the country’s cost-of-living crisis. Britons are facing a winter in which their household energy bills could rise by an eye-watering 80%; in July inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1% . Truss has pledged to make passing an emergency budget one of her first orders of business, though she has been tight-lipped about exactly what her package of support will entail.

In addition to the U.K.’s economic challenges, Truss will also have to contend with looming political crises, and not just in Northern Ireland. Over in Scotland, the Scottish Nationalist Party will be awaiting next month’s U.K. Supreme Court hearing on whether the devolved Scottish government can hold an independence referendum without the consent of Westminster—the outcome of which could renew focus on the fate of the British Union and Truss’s ability to preserve it. Support for Scottish independence has surged in the years following Brexit—Scotland had voted heavily in favor of Remain—reaching a high of 55% last year. As far as the SNP lawmaker Stewart McDonald is concerned, Truss’s government “will still be voter repellent to most people in Scotland,” just as Johnson’s was.

Beyond these crises, Truss has also to attend to the small matter of uniting her party after a bruising leadership campaign. While this may not be too much of a challenge when it comes to making peace with her formal leadership rivals, several of whom are being tipped for plum jobs in her cabinet, it could prove more difficult if her predecessor chooses to play an outsized role in affairs. Like other ex-PMs, Johnson will be reprising his role in parliament as a rank-and-file MP. But Johnson’s biggest challenge to Truss might not be from the backbenches. “I suspect he’ll go back to writing a regular newspaper column, and that will always be newsworthy given the kind of person he is,” says Barwell. “And that’s going to be really challenging for the Prime Minister.”

Will Truss last?

The U.K.’s next general election isn’t due to take place until late 2024 or January 2025. Truss could technically call for a snap election before then, though it would be highly unusual given the Conservative Party’s large majority in parliament and the opposition Labour Party’s significant lead in the polls. But that doesn’t mean that Truss is guaranteed to last through to the next election—the Tories have a habit of booting leaders out. “She could prove to be the last in this line of Conservative prime ministers,” says Ricketts. “She’s the fourth in six years. That’s a pretty fast turnover for British politics.”

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Write to Yasmeen Serhan/London at [email protected]

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International Edition

Here's what you need to know about Liz Truss, Britain's new leader

LONDON — As a girl and a young woman, Liz Truss protested against then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and called for the abolition of the monarchy. 

Decades later, having risen through the ranks of Thatcher’s Conservative Party, Truss, 47, on Tuesday was appointed the United Kingdom's prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II . 

As she heads to No. 10 Downing St., Truss looks eager to rule in the image of the famously blunt and strong-willed iconoclast — whose legacy still divides this country. Her victory means she will become the country’s third female leader, after Thatcher and Theresa May .

The “Iron Lady,” as Thatcher was known, was the 20th century’s longest serving British leader and birthed an ideology — Thatcherism — that still dominates the party with its low-tax, high-growth economic liberalism.

Serving as premier from 1979 to 1990, when she was forced to resign by her own government, Thatcher was a strident cold warrior and a supporter of free markets, and especially close to President Ronald Reagan . One of Britain’s most divisive prime ministers — reviled and revered in almost equal measure to this day — she is best known for her policies on deregulation, privatizing state-owned companies and smashing the power of unions. She died in 2013.

Whether intentional or not, observers and the public have pointed out, Truss appears to have a habit of re-creating iconic Thatcher public appearances. 

While serving as foreign secretary, Truss was accused of consciously mirroring Thatcher by posing in a Challenger 2 tank while visiting British troops in Estonia — reminiscent of a famous picture of Thatcher in a Challenger tank in Germany in 1986. 

When visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Kremlin in February, she wore a faux fur hat that again was compared to that worn by Thatcher on a Russia trip in 1987.

During the Conservative leadership contest, Truss wore an outfit strikingly similar to one Thatcher had worn for an election broadcast in 1979 — a black blazer and a white shirt with a bow tied at the front.

For Truss’ critics, the similarities to Thatcher are at best premature and at worst ludicrous. 

“I don’t think there’s anything in it. They’re completely different people,” Truss supporter Andrea Andino, 52, insisted outside the venue where Truss was announced the new leader of the Conservative Party on Monday. Andino wore a T-shirt “In Liz We Truss”. 

“She is different. I don’t think she will follow Thatcher in any way,” she added.

Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative member of the upper chamber of the British Parliament, also dismissed the comparison -- but for different reasons.

“I regard any comparison between Truss and Thatcher as derisory!” he said in an email.

“I worked as a government whip under Margaret Thatcher. She was a colossus in politics. There is absolutely no way that Truss could ever get anywhere near the achievements of Thatcher,” he said.

Truss herself complained to BBC Radio 4 in July that women tend to get compared to Thatcher whether they resemble her or not. 

“I am my own person,” she said.

James Cleverly, who served as education minister under Boris Johnson, echoes these sentiments. 

“She’s a woman in politics, those comparisons are inevitable.” he said  “She is Liz Truss, she is her own person.”

“To those of us who’ve studied Thatcher, she’s hardly in the same league, at least on current form,” said professor Tim Bale, an expert on British politics and the Conservative Party at Queen Mary University of London. 

While Thatcher was regarded then and now as a conviction politician who embodied her beliefs, Truss has been accused of being a political chameleon, flip-flopping on major policies and criticized for lacking hard-and-fast principles. 

She was an activist for the centrist Liberal Democrat Party as a college student. 

“We do not believe people are born to rule,” she said while arguing passionately for the abolition of the monarchy at the party’s conference in 1994 — a testament to just how far she has traveled politically.

Truss campaigned for Britain to remain in the European Union only to flip sides and later support Brexit once the country had voted to leave in 2016. Commitment to Brexit and unlocking its supposed benefits is now a core pillar of her platform — an attitude that could lead to a heated and expensive legal battle with the European Union and the Republic of Ireland over the complex Northern Ireland protocol .

While Truss said during the Brexit referendum campaign that Britain shouldn’t “spend years in a messy divorce from Europe,” she may be about to preside over exactly this.

Born in Oxford in 1975, Mary Elizabeth Truss is the daughter of John Kenneth, a math professor at the University of Leeds, and Priscilla Truss, a nurse. In the biography section of her website, she describes her parents as “left wing.”

When she was 4, the family relocated to Paisley, a town near Glasgow in Scotland. They moved again in 1985 to the northern English city of Leeds, in West Yorkshire. 

Truss frequently refers to herself as a “Yorkshirewoman,” a folksy attempt to contrast her upbringing with the largely affluent, southern English background of many Conservative members and activists. 

Throughout her leadership campaign, Truss said her vision of conservatism was inspired by seeing fellow students at the local public high school struggling in an overly bureaucratic, failing system. 

“Many of the children I was at school with were let down by low expectations, poor educational standards and a lack of opportunity,” she said at her leadership launch July 14.

Former students and staff at Roundhay and also local politicians disputed Truss’ portrayal, accusing her of unfairly maligning the school for political gain. 

Kirkhope was the Conservative MP for Leeds North East when Truss attended Roundhay.

“It is located in one of the most affluent areas of Leeds and it certainly could never be described fairly as a ‘sink school,’’’ he said via email, referring to British terminology for a failing and underachieving school.

Kirkhope also highlights the fact that after graduating from Roundhay, Truss gained entry into one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the world, the University of Oxford . There she studied philosophy, politics and economics, a traditional first step for many who want to enter British politics.

“Her contentions about her ‘deprived’ background, as the daughter of a university professor are a load of nonsense” Kirkhope said.

After graduating from Oxford in 1996, she abandoned the Liberal Democrats and joined the Conservative Party, to the dismay of her left-leaning father. “He was quite horrified,” she told The Times newspaper in 2012.

After college, Truss worked as a graduate trainee accountant for the energy giant Shell and later the telecommunications company Cable & Wireless. In 2000, she married fellow accountant Hugh O’Leary and they have two daughters.

After a youth on the center-left, university primed Truss for a conversion to the right. 

“I met Tories and I realized that they didn’t have two heads and were actually good people,” she told the Daily Mail in 2019. 

Truss stood as a Tory candidate in the elections of 2001 and 2005, losing both times. It would take another five years before she was finally elected as the MP for South West Norfolk. 

Truss has served in various Cabinet positions since 2012, under the governments of David Cameron , Theresa May and Johnson . It was under Johnson that she was promoted to foreign minister, one of the most powerful positions in government — tasked with leading the transition to a post-Brexit trading regime and forging new diplomatic ties.

The Conservative Party may have ditched Johnson, but his brand of populism looks set to stay under the new prime minister. 

“She stayed loyal to Johnson. She’s told the membership what they want to hear on the economy and taxation rather than any hard truths. She’s a fierce Brexiteer and an ‘anti-woke’ warrior,” Bale said.

Truss may be compared to Thatcher, but her critics believe she has much more in common with her predecessor. 

“I regret that a Liz Truss premiership would be a continuation of the Boris Johnson style,” Kirkhope said.

A Truss government would be “even more divisive” and include “individuals who are notable only for their extreme or eccentric views,” he said.

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Liz Truss officially takes over as the U.K.'s prime minister

Willem Marx

Liz Truss is Britain's fourth prime minister in six years, and the third woman to take on the role. She succeeded Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader on Monday.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Liz Truss is now officially Britain's fourth prime minister in six years and the third woman to take on the role. She starts the job at a time when the U.K. is already facing serious economic and energy issues as Willem Marx reports from London.

WILLEM MARX, BYLINE: After a long, hot summer of competitive campaigning for this new job, a coronation by her Conservative Party and a private jet dash to the Queen's residence in Scotland, Liz Truss finally arrived back home, her new home, 10 Downing Street. As the foreign minister until this week, she's been focused on challenges much further afield like Afghanistan and Ukraine. But standing outside the famous black lacquer door Tuesday afternoon, she promised her time in power would include an ambitious domestic agenda.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER LIZ TRUSS: We will transform Britain into an aspiration nation with high-paying jobs, safe streets, and where everyone everywhere has the opportunities they deserve. I will take action this day and action every day to make it happen.

MARX: But amid a massive energy crisis in Britain, in the next few days, she must prioritize policies with giant governmental firepower, aiming to stave off disaster for millions of households facing record high heating bills. In his own farewell speech from the same spot several hours earlier, her predecessor and political ally, Boris Johnson, warned there would be challenges ahead.

BORIS JOHNSON: This is a tough time for the economy. This is a tough time for families up and down the country. We can and we will get through it. We will come out stronger the other side.

MARX: Truss has earned a reputation throughout her political career as a savvy operator rather than a strong public speaker. But she is known, like Boris Johnson, for her boosterism, and that was on full display in her first address to the nation.

TRUSS: What makes the United Kingdom great is our fundamental belief in freedom, in enterprise and in fair play. Our people have shown grit, courage and determination time and time again. We now face severe global headwinds caused by Russia's appalling war in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID. Now is the time to tackle the issues that are holding Britain back.

MARX: Those issues she alluded to may be long standing and complex to resolve, but in the short term, she enters office at a time of crisis. And after months of government inaction, British citizens will want positive action more than mere optimism. For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in London.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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Liz Truss says in book queen told her to ‘pace yourself’, admits she didn’t listen

Ex-prime minister, who lasted just 49 days, says she struggled to cope with death of monarch and self-inflicted economic disaster

In a new memoir, Liz Truss recounts the advice she was given by Queen Elizabeth II when they met in September 2022 to confirm Truss as Britain’s new prime minister, the 15th and as it turned out last, to serve under Elizabeth II.

“Pace yourself,” the 96-year-old queen said – a suggestion Truss admits she failed to heed after the queen died, leaving Truss unsure if she could cope.

Truss later introduced radical free-market policies that crashed the British economy and saw her ejected from office just 49 days after winning an internal Conservative party vote to succeed Boris Johnson, making her the shortest-serving prime minister of all.

“Maybe I should have listened” to the queen, Truss writes.

Replaced in Downing Street by Rishi Sunak, Truss still sits as an MP for South West Norfolk. Just 48, she has increasingly sought to carve out a prominent position on the hard right of British politics and turned her sights on the US, in particular its rightwing thinktanks and lucrative speaking circuit.

Truss’s book, Ten Years To Save The West, will be published in the US and UK next week.

Though Truss writes that the book is less a memoir than a manifesto for her continuing participation in global politics, it does contain extensive descriptions of her time as an MP, a member of successive Conservative cabinets, a minister of state, foreign secretary and finally, briefly as prime minister.

Of her historic meeting with the queen at Balmoral in Scotland in September 2022, Truss says the 96-year-old monarch “seemed to have grown frailer” since she had last been in the public eye.

“We spent around 20 minutes discussing politics,” Truss writes. “She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty. Towards the end of our discussion, she warned me that being prime minister is incredibly aging. She also gave me two words of advice: ‘Pace yourself.’ Maybe I should have listened.”

Elsewhere, Truss often writes of struggling with the pressures of high office, including an instance in Spain when she was foreign secretary in which motorcade delays saw her “beginning to lose my rag … on account of constant travel and pressure”, causing her to try to get out of her official car to “remonstrate with police”.

That episode was quelled, Truss writes, with an intervention by her staff and “a cooling off period at a sherry bar”.

But when the queen died so soon after Truss had become her 15th and final prime minister, Truss writes, the news, though widely expected after the monarch’s health had deteriorated, still came “as a profound shock” to Truss, seeming “utterly unreal” and leaving her thinking: “Why me? Why now?”

Insisting she had not expected to lead the UK in mourning for the death of a monarch nearly 70 years on the throne and nearly 100 years old, Truss says state ceremony and protocol were “a long way from my natural comfort zone”.

Other prime ministers, she writes without naming any, may have been better able to provide “the soaring rhetoric and performative statesmanship necessary”. She herself, she writes, predominantly felt profound sadness.

Truss describes carrying out duties including giving a Downing Street speech about the queen’s death and having a first audience with King Charles III. A subsequent Buckingham Palace meeting between the king and his prime minister was widely noted for its stilted nature – Charles being heard to mutter: “Back again? Dear oh dear.” But Truss says their first official meeting made her feel “a bizarre sense of camaraderie between us, with both starting out in our new roles and having to navigate unfamiliar territory”.

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As the UK went into mourning, so Truss watched on television with her family as the queen’s coffin was brought from Balmoral to Edinburgh. Truss describes being “suddenly overwhelmed by the emotion of it all”, and breaking down “into floods of tears on the sofa”.

“Once again,” she writes, “the grief was mixed with a feeling of awe over the sheer weight of the event, and the fact that it was happening on my watch.”

That watch turned out to be shorter than anyone could have expected. But after a period out of the public eye Truss has re-emerged, especially in the US where Donald Trump is seeking to return to the White House as a far-right Republican.

Last April, she delivered the Margaret Thatcher Freedom Lecture at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. This February, in Maryland, she spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, telling a pro-Trump audience the Anglo-American right “need[s] a bigger bazooka” to take on its leftwing enemies.

At that event, Truss stirred controversy by appearing with far-right figures, including the former Trump White House counselor Steve Bannon and allies of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.

Truss announced her book in September last year, saying she would use it to “share the lessons” of her time in government, in which she claimed often to have been “the only conservative in the room”, fighting a supposedly authoritarian left.

In the event, she repeatedly blames the so-called “deep state” for her failures, from being excluded from meetings with Trump when Boris Johnson was prime minister to her own short-lived spell in that role.

Popular on the US right, the deep state conspiracy theory holds that a permanent government of bureaucrats and operatives exists to thwart the ambitions of populist leaders. Bannon is one of its chief propagators. He has, however, said it is “for nut cases”.

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Liz Truss reveals the advice Queen Elizabeth gave her before she died which the former PM now wishes she had listened to

• Liz Truss was advised by Queen Elizabeth II to 'pace' herself before she died

Liz Truss was advised by the late Queen to 'pace' herself, the former prime minister has revealed.

Ms Truss met the monarch at Balmoral just two days before her death in September 2022.

In her upcoming memoir, the ex-PM admits she did not listen to the Queen's sage advice, in a 20-minute discussion between the pair.

Ms Truss's 49 days in charge were marked by economic turmoil – including reforms that sent the pound tumbling – before her ousting from Downing Street .

She writes of the late Queen in the book, Ten Years To Save The West, which will be serialised exclusively in the Mail from Saturday: 'She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty.

'Towards the end of our discussion, she warned me that being prime minister is incredibly aging. She also gave me two words of advice: "Pace yourself." Maybe I should have listened.'

Summoned to Scotland due to the Queen's poor health, Ms Truss described her as 'frail' but 'alert', 'absolutely on top' of things and seemed intent on meeting again.

Upon news of the Queen's death – which came just days after Ms Truss entered No 10 – the former prime minister recalls thinking: 'Why me? Why now?'

The state ceremony and protocol that followed left her 'a long way from my natural comfort zone', she writes. Ms Truss said she broke down 'into floods of tears on the sofa'. She added: 'Once again the grief was mixed with a feeling of awe over the sheer weight of the event, and the fact that it was happening on my watch.'

Ms Truss admitted previous prime ministers may have been better suited to the events by providing 'the soaring rhetoric and performative statesmanship necessary'.

She said that, despite being under massive political pressure, her first meeting with King Charles sparked 'a bizarre sense of camaraderie between us, with both starting out in our new roles and having to navigate unfamiliar territory'. At the time, Tory MPs had already begun making moves to relieve Ms Truss of her duties . As she curtseyed to Charles, he said: 'So you've come back again?'

Ms Truss replied: 'It's a great pleasure,' but the King added: 'Dear, oh dear. Anyway…'

In an interview about her book last year with The Mail on Sunday, Ms Truss revealed her former friendship with Kwasi Kwarteng is effectively over.

Ms Truss fired Mr Kwarteng as chancellor in a last-ditch attempt to avert her demise.

Asked whether they are are still in contact, she said: 'Occasionally. I'm not speaking to him that much.'

Liz Truss: A political memoir like no other

In her own words, the dramatic inside story of how she was driven out of Downing Street.

Starts exclusively in Saturday's Daily Mail.

• Relationship

Liz Truss, a British politician, is well-known for her successful political career. She is the 15th British Prime Minister crowned by Queen Elizabeth II on September 6th, 2022, who has seen an era of change. She is officially Britain's fourth prime minister in six years and the third woman to take on the role.  After being named as Britain's new prime minister, Truss said that she will cut taxes and focus on growing the UK's economy.

Who is Liz Truss?

Liz Truss is a British politician . She currently serves as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party . After Johnson's resignation amid a government crisis, she won the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, became the UK's third female prime minister, and formed the Truss ministry.

Truss began her political career as a councilor for the London Borough of Greenwich prior to running as Conservative MP for Hemsworth in 2011. She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education from 2012 to 2014, before being appointed to the Cabinet by Cameron as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in the 2014 cabinet reshuffle. 

After Cameron's resignation in July 2016, Truss was appointed Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor by May, becoming the first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the office. Following the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Truss was appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Where is Liz Truss born?

Liz Truss was born on 26th July 1975 in Oxford, England. Her birth name is Mary Elizabeth Truss. She holds British nationality and belongs to the white caucasian ethnicity. Her star sign is Leo. She is a follower of Christianity. She values the Christian faith and the Church of England, but she is not a regular practicing religious person. 

Liz Truss was born into a middle-class family. Her father, John Kenneth Truss, is a mathematician and professor at the University of Leeds while her mother Priscilla Truss was a nurse and teacher. She was raised with her three younger brothers: Chris, Patrick, and Francis. 

As for education, She attended Roundhay School , in the Roundhay area of Leeds. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at Merton College , one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, graduating in 1996.

Who is Liz Truss married to?

Liz Truss has been married to Hugh O'Leary, an English accountant. He is currently a finance director at Affinity Global Real Estate. The couple first met in 1997 at the Tory Party conference. After dating for several years, the couple married in 2000 at a grand wedding. The couple has welcomed two daughters: Frances, 16, and Liberty, 13.

Both daughters are kept largely out of the public eye and off of her social media. Their relationship turned bitter in 2006 after her affair with the then-married Tory MP Mark Field from 2004 until mid-2005 was made public. However, Truss's marriage survived, and she said in the same 2019 interview that she is ‘really happily married.

What is Liz Truss's net worth? 

As of September 2022, the net worth of Liz Truss is estimated to be £8.4 million. She has accumulated her wealth working at Shell (An oil and Gas company) and Cable & Wireless and as a deputy director of the think tank Reform. Now as a British Prime Minister, she will be reportedly earning $450,000 annually. Meanwhile, her car collection includes Cadillac Escalade, Land Rover Defender, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XF, and Range Rover, among many others.

How tall is Liz Truss?

Liz Truss is 5 ft 7 inches tall and her body weight is around 58 Kg. She wears a bra of size 37C and a shoe size of 7(US). She has a perfect body measurement of 37-25-37 inches that resembles hourglass-shaped. She has a beautiful face with a fair complexion and has got sparkling blue eyes. The hair that Liz Truss has is completely unprocessed. Although she has blonde hair at the moment, the natural color of her hair is brown.  

Facts About Liz Truss

• #1 She unsuccessfully contested and lost her first two elections.
• #2  She is the 56th United Kingdom, prime minister.
• #3 She polled 81,32 votes to defeat Rishi Sunak, who polled 60, 399 votes.
• #4 She supported Brexit.
• #5 She was President of Oxford University Liberal Democrats.
• #6 In 1996, she both graduated and joined the Conservative Party.
• #7 Truss's parents divorced in 2003.
• #8 She was remembered by adolescent classmates as a studious girl with "geeky" friends.
• #9 She is a very opinionated person.
• #10 She was first elected as the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk in 2010.
• 15th British Prime Minister
• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• British politician
• Conservative Party
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Merton College
• Roundhay School

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Liz Truss Wiki, Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography & More

Liz Truss is a British politician who has served the UK government at various key positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson including Minister for Women and Equalities, and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs. She was the Conservative candidate for the 2022 elections for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In September 2022, she became the 56th Prime Minister and the 3rd woman Prime Minister of the UK. On 20 October 2022, she announced her resignation as Prime Minister.

Wiki/Biography

Mary Elizabeth Truss [1] The Hindu was born on Saturday, 26 July 1975 ( age 47 years; as of 2022 ) in Oxford, United Kingdom. Her zodiac sign is Leo. When she was four, her parents left England and moved to Scotland. Liz went to West Primary School in Paisley, Renfrewshire in Scotland. [2] The Scotsman Later, she attended Roundhay School in the Roundhay area of Leeds, England. [3] The Guardian She left for Canada and studied at Parkcrest School for a year, from 1987 to 1988.

A group photo of Liz with students of Grade 6 & 7 of Parkcrest School, Canada (1987-1988)

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Merton College affiliated with Oxford University in England. She was interested in Liberal Democrats and was chosen as the president of Oxford University Liberal Democrats and became a member of the National Executive Committee of Liberal Democrat Youth and Students. In 1994, she gave a speech at Liberal Democrat Federal Conference. After becoming a Liberal Democrat, she supported the legality of cannabis and the abolition of the monarchy. She expressed her Republican beliefs and said,

I agree with Paddy Ashdown when he said, ‘Everybody in Britain should have the chance to be a somebody,’ but only one family can provide the head of state… we believe in referenda on major constitutional issues; we do not believe people should be born to rule, or that they should put up and shut up about decisions which affect their everyday lives.”

She graduated from Merton College in 1996, and in the same year, she joined the Conservative Party.

A childhood photo of Liz at the age of 12

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.):  5′ 6″

Weight (approx.): 60 kg

Hair Color: Extra light beige blonde

Eye Colour: Blue

Liz belongs to a Christian family in England. [4] Christian Concern

Parents & Siblings

Her father, John Kenneth Truss, is a professor of pure mathematics at the University of Leeds. Her mother, Priscilla Mary Truss, is a nurse, teacher, and member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. She has three younger brothers.

A childhood photo of Liz with her parents

Liz Truss with her mother, Priscilla Truss

Husband & Children

In 2000, Liz got married to her fellow accountant Hugh O’Leary , who is a finance director. She met him for the first time at the Conservative Party Conference in 1997. They have two daughters named Liberty and Frances . [5] Metro

Liz with her husband, Hugh O’Leary

Liz Truss with her daughters, Frances and Liberty

Relationships/Affairs

Reportedly, Liz Truss had an affair with former Tory MP Mark Field. They started dating each other in 2004, which came to an end in June 2005 after dating each other for 18 months. When the news of their relationship became public, Mark Field’s 12-year-long marriage ended in divorce; however, Liz managed to save her marriage. [6] Express

Former Tory MP Mark Field

Signature of Liz Truss

Corporate Sector

Liz worked for a British oil and gas company, Shell, from 1996 to 2000. In 1999, while working for Shell, she qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA). In 2000, she started working for a British telecommunications company, Cable & Wireless. She was promoted to the position of economic director before she left the company in 2005. In January 2008, she was appointed as the full-time deputy director of Reform,  a think tank that carries out various research papers related to government policies. While working at Reform, she became the co-author of multiple reports including The Value of Mathematics and A New Level.

In 1998, Liz was appointed as the chairperson of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association and held the position for 2 years. She participated in the 1998 Greenwich London Borough Council elections from Vanbrugh Ward and Greenwich Council elections from Blackheath Westcombe in 2002; however, she lost both elections. In 2006, she was appointed as the councillor for Eltham South in Greenwich, but before the end of her term in 2010, she resigned from the position.

Candidate for Parliament Elections

In 2001, Liz contested the Labour-held constituency of Hemsworth in West Yorkshire. Before the 2005 UK general elections, Liz was selected to stand in the elections after replacing the parliamentary candidate for Calder Valley, Sue Catling. She was listed in the Priority List of Conservative members of Parliament under David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was selected for the South West Norfolk seat by members of the constituency Conservative Association in October 2009; she won half of the votes in the first round of elections. Later, after the revelation of Liz’s affair with Conservative MP Mark Field, some members of the constituency association opposed Truss’ selection. At a general meeting of the association’s members held three weeks later, a resolution to cancel Truss’ candidacy was put forth, but it was defeated by 132 votes to 37.

Parliament Member

Dualling of a11 trunk road.

Prior to the elections to the House of Commons on 6 May 2010, she fought for the issues including the retention of the RAF Tornado base at RAF Marham in her constituency. In 2011, she succeeded in persuading the government for converting A11, a major trunk road in England, into a dual carriageway. She said,

My constituents were delighted to hear in the autumn Comprehensive Spending Review that the final stretch of the A11 was to be dualled. This will have a magnificent impact on economic growth in the county and local businesses. Yet we are still to hear exactly when this major work will take place.” [7] Eastern Daily Press

Protecting Thetford Forest

In 2011, she played a crucial role in protecting Thetford Forest from any sell-off of Forestry Commission land by designating it as a Heritage Forest. She, along with other parliamentarians and council leaders, urged Defra secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, to award the Heritage Forest status to Thetford Forest. Regarding this issue, Liz said,

I highlighted to the secretary of state that I had received a considerable amount of correspondence from constituents who are extremely concerned that the status of the forest will change. I pressed upon the Secretary of State that Thetford Forest deserves Heritage status to preserve the biodiversity and community access. The Secretary of State did say said that this is a public consultation and that the public’s views will be taken into account. I would therefore urge those who are concerned about Thetford Forest to write to DEFRA whilst this consultation is ongoing. I will continue to keep pressing the case to ensure the Secretary of State understands the views of my constituents to safeguard Thetford Forest as a Heritage Forest.” [8] Eastern Daily Press

Wrote a Paper for EPI

In march 2011, she wrote a paper for an education policy think tank, Education Policy Institute (EPI), in which she mentioned how low-income students were being kept out of top jobs, and how to improve social mobility. In 2012, she wrote again for EPI about the changes that should be made in the structure of the childcare market in Britain.

Liz Truss at the 2013 think tank Policy Exchange

Free Enterprise Group

In 2011, she founded a group along with the support of over 40 other Conservative MPs named the Free Enterprise Group. In the same year, she co-wrote the book “After the Coalition” with the help of four other members of the group. The book is about the Conservative principles adapted to the modern world that are essential for national success.

Cover of the book ‘After The Coalition’ co-written by Liz Truss

In 2012, the same 5 authors published another book titled “Britannia Unchained,” which contained the declaration that

Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world.”

She published a paper in 2012 to make a policy to allow people to have tax-free and less-heavily regulated marginal employment. In 2011, she became a member of the Justice Select Committee.

Preventing Waste Incineration Construction at King’s Lynn

In 2013, the building of a waste incinerator at King’s Lynn was approved by the Conservative administration at Norfolk County Council, but Liz did not support it, and successfully managed the government to withdraw its grant to the county council. [9] BBC News In the same year, after seeing the concerns raised by Walsoken Parish Council about a large number of crashes that occurred at the Road junction of the A47, causing several deaths and serious injuries, as the MP of South West Norfolk, Liz began the campaign after visiting the junction herself, and she heavily campaigned to address the issue of road safety following which she received an assurance from the Department for Transport that safety improvements would be made. Due to her efforts to stop fatal accidents on the A47, South West Norfolk MP Liz was selected as Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Month by a road safety charity named Brake in January 2013. In an interview, while talking about this, Liz said,

The campaign to see improvements on the A47 is still ongoing and is a combined effort of MPs, local residents and councils. I thank Brake for the award and I will continue to lobby the Department for Transport to ensure that the A47 is fit for purpose.”

Junior Minister (2012-2014)

Liz became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education on 4 September 2012. She was held responsible for childcare and early learning, assessment, qualifications and curriculum reform, behaviour and attendance, and school food review. After observing that British pupils were way behind in mathematics than those in Asian countries, she decided to enhance British standards in maths. In 2014, she went to Shanghai, China to visit the schools and teacher-training centres to observe how local children have developed into the world’s top mathematicians. In order to increase the number of children compared to adults in a care facility and to overhaul childcare qualifications, Truss also described plans for reforming childcare in England. These changes were made to increase staff pay and qualifications and to expand the availability of childcare. Organisations like the charity 4Children, the Confederation of British Industry, and the College of West Angelia appreciated the reforms proposed by Liz; however, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg, and the charity National Day Nurseries Association criticised the reform.

Environment Secretary (2014-2016)

On 15 July 2014, Liz was appointed as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a cabinet reshuffle. In the same year, she came up with a plan to save traditional meadows, which consisted of the most fertile land for pollinators, by launching a 10-year bee and pollinator strategy to save the decreasing bee populations. She authorised the restricted temporary suspension of an EU restriction in July 2015, allowing the use of two neonicotinoid pesticides on 5% of England’s oilseed rape crop for 120 days to combat the cabbage stem flea beetle; in 2012, campaigners informed that pesticides were harming bees by destroying their ability to find their home. In 2014, Liz confirmed to cut a taxpayer subsidy to farmers and land owners for solar panels on agricultural land. Regarding this scheme, Liz said,

I want Britain to lead the world in food and farming and to do that we need enough productive agricultural land.” [10] BBC News

According to Liz, farming and food are “hotbeds of innovation.” Production and export of cheese, pork pies, apples, and more food items were promoted by her. In 2015, she was one of the two cabinet ministers, who voted against the government’s proposal for cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging.

Justice Secretary (2016-2017)

In July 2016, Liz began to serve as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor in the first ministry of Theresa May; she was reported to be the first woman to hold the office since the creation of the office. In November 2016, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve and the Criminal Bar Association criticised her for not supporting the judiciary successfully and the principle of judicial independence when three judges of the Divisional Court were criticised by many politicians and the Daily Mail for ruling against the government in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the Europen Union. Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer criticised her by saying that she did not possess the essential legal expertise that the constitution required. However, she defended herself by saying that the judiciary was enough robust to handle the attacks of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. She refused that she had failed to defend the judges and said,

An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law, vital to our constitution and freedoms. It is my duty as Lord Chancellor to defend that independence. I swore to do so under my oath of office. I take that very seriously and I will always do so. [11] The Guardian

In 2015 and 2016, prison violence incidents increased in prisons in England and Wales, which made Liz invest £1.3 billion in the prison service programme in November 2016 and hire 2,500 extra prison officers for strengthening the security.

Liz as justice secretary at the Lord Mayor of London’s banquet in 2016

Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2017-2019)

On 11 June 2017, Liz became the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, which was considered a demotion by others. Reportedly, while serving as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, she developed an interest in making her online presence on Twitter and Instagram. A British daily newspaper termed her presence on social media as an orthodox trick to increase her fan following. Her tenure was referred to as Chief Secretary “exhausting” due to her challenging work schedule and regularly asking officials multiple questions. In June 2018, she gave a speech in which she alerted that raising taxes could see the Tories being “crushed” at the polls. In 2019, she revealed that she could be a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party after Theresa May. However, she chose not to stand and decided to support Boris Johnson.

International Trade Secretary (2019-2021)

After Boris Johnson became the Prime Minister, Liz was expected to advance in her position as a result of her support for Johnson’s leadership campaign during which she provided economic policy advice and helped design initiatives to lower taxes for those making over £50,000. Therefore, she was supposed to be appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer or Business Secretary, but she was promoted to the position of Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade in 2019.

Liz giving a speech at the British Chambers of Commerce at a BBC conference in March 2019

She was appointed as the Minister for Women and Equalities after the resignation of Amber Rudd. In 2019, Liz was spotted saying that the Department for International Trade “accidentally” allowed shipping of £435,000 of radio spares and £200 air coolers to Saudi Arabia, violating an order of the Court of Appeal, twice. It was later found out that the arms sold to Saudi Arabia by the UK, that were used in the war in Yemen, were illegal. [12] BBC News Even after Liz’s apology to a Commons committee on arms export controls, opposition MPs were not satisfied with the apology for breaking the law and wanted her to resign from her position. In March 2020, she presented the Trade Act 2021 to the Parliament, which settled a legal framework for the UK for doing business with countries around the world. [13] The Telegraph On 7 July 2020, Liz removed the ban on the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia after one year. She said,

There is not a clear risk that the export of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” [14] Defense News

In August 2020, Liz took the responsibility to negotiate a post-Brexit free trade agreement between England and Japan. In September 2020, both countries signed the agreement. According to Liz, the agreement would make 99% of exports to Japan tariff-free. The agreement was considered a historic moment as it was the first major business deal signed by the UK after leaving the European Union. In December 2020, in a speech on equality policy, Truss claimed that the UK placed too much emphasis on “fashionable” racial, sexual, and gender concerns at the expense of poverty and regional inequality. It also criticised Paul-Michel Foucault and postmodernist philosophy. She declared in her address that unconscious bias training will no longer be used by the government or civil service.

UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss with former National Security Advisor of the United States in 2019

Foreign Secretary (2021-present)

On 15 September 2021, Liz was promoted to the position of Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs. After Margaret Beckett, Liz was the second woman to be appointed for this position. In October 2021, she called Russia to step in the Belarus-European Union order crisis, a migrant crisis after the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrants, especially from Iraq, Asia, and some parts of Africa and put forth her wish to have a closer economic and investment relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which Saudi Arabia and Qatar are members of. In November 2021, Liz declared a 10-year-long deal along with the former Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel Yair Lapid with the goal to stop Iran from making nuclear weapons. She had a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov in Stockholm in December 2021, urging Russia to draw back from the conflict in Ukraine. In December 2021, after the resignation of Lord Frost, Liz held the position of the government’s chief negotiator with the European Union. On 30 January 2022, she appeared on BBC’s Sunday Morning programme in which she said,

We are supplying and offering extra support into our Baltic allies across the Black Sea, as well as supplying the Ukrainians with defensive weapons.” [15] The Herald

She was mocked for this statement as Baltic states are situated on or near the Baltic sea and not the Black sea, which is at a distance of 700 miles from the Baltic.

British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss with Indian Foreign Minister, Dr S Jaishankar on her visit to India in 2021

Conservative Party Leadership Election in 2022

On 10 July 2022, Liz declared to take part in the Conservative Party leadership elections and replace Boris Johnson to become the next prime Minister of England. She promised to cut taxes from the first day if chosen and help people who were facing problems with the cost of living by taking immediate action. As part of a “long-term plan to reduce the size of the state and the tax burden,” she declared that she would cancel a planned increase in Corporation Tax and reverse the recent increase in National Insurance Rates. After Boris Johnson had to resign from the position of Prime Minister of the UK, Liz Truss became the frontrunner along with former finance minister Rishi Sunak to become the Prime Minister of England. Both the candidates got into several debates opposing each other. In one such debate on a news channel, the debate moderator, Kate McCann fainted on stage due to which the debate halted, immediately.

56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

On 6 September 2022, she became the 56th Prime Minister and the 3rd woman Prime Minister of the UK.

Her husband, Hugh O’Leary, congratulating Liz Truss after she was chosen to become the Prime Minister of the UK

Her Standpoint on Economics and Foreign Policy

Liz is a true believer of Economic liberalism and a supporter of free trade. In 2011, she founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, which is a free-market collection of parliamentarians, arguing for a more entrepreneurial economy and fewer employment laws. In 2022, she called Saudi Arabia an ally but did not approve of the country’s policies. In an interview, she said,

We have to work with all of our allies around the world including Saudi Arabia to find alternative sources. Saudi Arabia is not a global security threat in the way that Russia is and we have to work with them.” [16] Indy100

When the interviewer said that the condition of women in Saudi Arabia was terrible and disgusting, Liz replied,

I am not condoning the policies of Saudi Arabia, what I am saying is we are in an existential threat and we need to find alternative sources of oil and gas so we are no longer dependent on Vladimir Putin and his appalling regime.” [17] Indy100

Her Point of View on Brexit

Liz Truss had fluctuating views on the Brexit referendum during and after the referendum. During the Brexit referendum that took place on 23 June 2016, Liz supported that the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union, while after the referendum, she changed her views and started supporting Brexit and said,

I don’t want my daughters to grow up in a world where they need a visa or permit to work in Europe, or where they are hampered from growing a business because of extortionate call costs and barriers to trade. Every parent wants their children to grow up in a healthy environment with clean water, fresh air and thriving natural wonders. Being part of the EU helps protect these precious resources and spaces.” [18] Evening Standard

In 2017, she revealed that she would vote for Brexit if another referendum takes place and said,

I believed there would be massive economic problems but those haven’t come to pass and I’ve also seen the opportunities.” [19] Politics Home

Her Opinion on Social and Cultural Issues

In an interview, while talking about woke aggression and cancel culture, she said,

The Conservative party should reject the zero-sum game of identity politics, we reject the illiberalism of cancel culture, and we reject the soft bigotry of low expectations that holds so many people back.” [20] The Guardian

While speaking in a meeting at a convention about her duties as a women and equalities minister, she shared that she does not agree with identity politics and said,

I don’t agree with the idea that you should have different policies for women or men. What I think is you should make sure your policies are accessible to everybody, so you should be, in the criminal justice system, making sure women are being treated fairly, gay people are being treated fairly, black people are being treated fairly.” [21] The Guardian

According to Reuters, she has always supported and voted for gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights, but her views on transgenders are not liberal as she believes that transgenders should have limited rights. She said that transgender people should not have the right to self-identify as a different gender without medical check-ups and that only women have a cervix. Liz, who earlier supported single-sex services, later, in February 2022, wrote a letter to Equalities and Human Rights Commission in which she mentioned that the government was not interested in stopping transgender people from using single-sex toilets or changing rooms. In the letter, she wrote,

The Equality Act makes it clear that providers have the right to restrict use of spaces on the basis of sex as currently takes place. The Government has no interest in changing the current situation where transgender people are able to use facilities of their chosen gender. I very much support your attempts to correct the record and know that you will be seeking to engage and reassure LGBT groups on these issues privately too.” [22] The i The letter written by Liz to Equalities and Human Rights Commission

Tumultuous First Few Weeks of Her Leadership

After some dramatic U-turns in British politics in the first few weeks of her leadership, she had to apologize in October 2022. Jeremy Hunt, her new Chancellor, reversed her entire tax-cutting agenda after she sacked her close ally Kwasi Kwarteng. To break the stagnation of the economy, Truss and Kwarteng unveiled 45 billion pounds of unfunded tax cuts in September 2022. However, bond investors responded brutally, causing borrowing costs to rise and lenders to pull mortgage offers, resulting in the Bank of England intervening to prevent pension funds from going bankrupt. Investor confidence evaporated, her poll ratings plummeted, and she apologized for “mistakes” in her program. Liz Truss, while rendering an apology for her mistakes, said,

I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made.”

Shortest-serving PM

After ditching most of her economic policies that led to political turmoil in her government, she was forced to resign on 20 October 2022. Liz Truss became the shortest-serving PM in British history after resigning. [23] BBC Following her resignation, she delivered a speech outside Downing Street. Ms Truss said,

I recognise that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.”

Controversy

In 2019, Liz went to Australia on a trade tour, where she clicked pictures while riding a Brompton bicycle, which is manufactured in London, and posing in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge under the rain. Taking this picture and some others like it cost more than £2,500. Reportedly, she hired a personal photographer for her visit to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and the photographer was paid with taxpayers’ money. Under the Freedom of Information Act, it was revealed that she also charged £1,190 for her PR-related activities. She was trolled on social media for doing personal branding on official tours. [24] BuzzFeed News

Liz in a picture captured in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge under the rain

As of July 2022, Liz Truss’ net worth was reported to be £8.4 million. [25] Express

Facts/Trivia

• In childhood, everyone at home used to call her by her middle name Elizabeth. [26] YOU

As one of the largest groups of freedom-loving democracies, we must ensure there are clear benefits to remaining a member of the Commonwealth and offer nations a clear alternative to the growing malign influence from Beijing.” [27] The Hindu

• Reportedly, Liz Truss is known for her strained relations with bureaucrats for which she has also earned the titles like “Miss Dynamite” and the “human hand grenade.” [28] Eastern Daily Press
• She has a family residence located in the market town of Thetford, Norfolk, which is considered her main residence. She has another house with three bedrooms, which is situated 30 miles away from Norwich; it was used for filming Dad’s Army (1968-1977), a popular TV series. She also has a property in London. [29] Evening Standard

Liz making Christmas pudding

I remember standing in the Paisley piazza and we were chanting that slogan and other slogans. It was in Scottish so it was ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, oot, oot, oot.’” [31] Daily Record

Liz on the cover page of YOU magazine

Liz Truss meeting Queen Elizabeth II after becoming the 56th Prime Minister of England

Liz Truss giving the speech in front of 10 Downing Street in London on 6 September 2022

• The government formed by Liz Truss, after she became the Prime Minister, is the first government which does not have a white man appointed for holding the top 4 offices of state. [33] Bloomberg Kwasi Kwarteng was chosen as Chancellor, Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary, and Therese Coffey as Deputy Prime Minister and Health Secretary. [34] BBC News

References [+] [−]

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Liz Truss- Wiki, Biography, Age, Height, Net Worth, Husband

Liz Truss , also known as Mary Elizabeth Truss, is a politician from the United Kingdom. Liz Truss has been in the position of Secretary since 2021. She is the State Secretary for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs. Liz Truss is also the Minister for Women and Equalities, a position she has held since 2019.

Quick Facts

Liz truss age, biography.

Mary Elizabeth Truss was born on July 26, 1975, & is currently 47 years old in 2023 . She grew up and later grew up in Oxford, England. She is of British nationality and adheres to the Christian faith. Liz was born under the sign of Leo.

She was about four years old when she and her family were forced to relocate to Scotland. She  attended the West Primary School in Paisley, Renfrewshire. Liz then enrolled at the Roundhay School, which is located in Leeds’ Roundhay neighborhood. She was overheard saying that Roundhay School was the only one that had “let down” its students.

When her claims were tested against the educational curriculum, it was discovered that they were false and unjust. Some of Liz Truss’s friends, who went to the same school as her, questioned her emphasis on social issues. In addition, there was a journalist who disputed the matter.

Truss had also lived in Canada, albeit for a year. It was noted that she appreciated the coherence of the curriculum in Canada as well as the Canadian attitude. She stated that the Canadians were very good to be at the top of the class, which she found surprising given her education at Roundhay School. Truss graduated in 1996, and she studied Philosophy, Economics, and Politics. She had enrolled at Merton College in Oxford.

Liz Truss’s Husband

Liz Truss’s marital status is that she is married . She married Hugh O’Leary in 2000 .

He was another accountant. The couple later had two daughters. Their daughters’ names are Frances Truss and Liberty Truss. However, it was discovered that Liz Truss had an extra-marital affair with Mark Field, a married MP, from 2004 to the middle of 2005.

Liz Truss Height & Weight

Liz Truss stands 5 feet 8 inches (172 cm) tall and weighs approximately 54 kg. (119 lbs ). Elizabeth has brown eyes and blonde hair. Her body measurements are unknown, but her shoe size is 9. (US).

Liz Truss’s Net Worth

Liz Truss’ net worth is $10 million as of December 2023 . She has been a Member of Parliament since 2010. (MP). Additionally, she is a member of the Conservative Party. She represents South West Norfolk. Furthermore, when it comes to Cabinet positions, Liz Truss has worked for several Prime Ministers, including David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Theresa May.

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Liz Truss Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Liz Truss

A childhood photo of Liz at the age of 12

I remember standing in the Paisley piazza and we were chanting that slogan and other slogans. It was in Scottish so it was ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, oot, oot, oot.’” [15] Daily Record jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_398377_1_15').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_398377_1_15', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });

• When she attended Merton college in England, she became a supporter of Liberal Democrats. She was the president of Oxford University Liberal Democrats and became a member of the National Executive Committee of Liberal Democrat Youth and Students. She gave a speech at the 1994 Liberal Democrat Federal Conference. She stood up in the support of the legalisation of cannabis and the abolition of the monarchy.

• Liz began to work in the corporate sector in 1996. She worked at the British oil and gas company Shell for 4 years till 2000. She became a certified Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) in 1999. She joined a British telecommunications company, Cable & Wireless, in 2000. She became the economic director of the company before she left it in 2005. She became the full-time deputy director of a research trust called Reform in 2008. At Reform, she co-authored several reports including The Value of Mathematics and A New Level.
• She met her husband, Hugh O’Leary, for the first time at the Conservative party Conference in 1997, who was also her fellow accountant.
• Liz became the chairperson of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association in 1998. In 2006, she became the councillor for Eltham South in Greenwich, but she resigned from the position before the end of her term, which was about to take place in 2010.
• In 2009, Liz was selected for the South West Norfolk seat by members of the constituency Conservative Association. In the first round of elections, she won 50% of the votes; however, when the news about Liz and Conservative MP Mark Field’s affair surfaced, her selection for the post was opposed by some members of the constituency association. Three weeks later, at a general meeting of the association’s members, Liz managed to save her MP seat; she secured 132 votes, while her opponents secured only 37 votes.

My constituents were delighted to hear in the autumn Comprehensive Spending Review that the final stretch of the A11 was to be dualled. This will have a magnificent impact on economic growth in the county and local businesses. Yet we are still to hear exactly when this major work will take place.” [17] Eastern Daily Press jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_398377_1_17').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_398377_1_17', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });

• In 2011, She played a major role in protecting Thetford Forest from selling out, which comes under Forestry Commission land. With the help of other parliamentarians and council leaders, she urged Defra secretary of State Caroline Spelman to give Thetford Forest the status of a Heritage Forest.

Liz speaking at the policy exchange about why freedom is the key to British success on 30 January 2018

Cover page of the book ‘Britannia Unchained’

• In September 2012, when Liz was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, she visited Shanghai in China to visit the schools and teacher-training centres to see what learning techniques the children followed to become brilliant students in mathematics.
• In 2013, Liz prevented the building of a waste incinerator at King’s Lynn by convincing the government to withdraw its grant to the county council. In the same year, Liz visited the road junction of the A47 after hearing about a large number of crashes that occurred at the road junction of the A47 trunk road; some crashes caused several deaths and serious injuries. Later, she began a campaign for design improvements and was positively received by the Department for Transport. She played a key role in preventing accidents on the A47 road, which made Liz, South West Norfolk MP, the Road Safety Parliamentarian of the Month by road safety charity Brake.
• On 10 July 2022, Liz announced to participate in the 2022 elections to become the Prime Minister of the UK after Boris Johnson ‘s resignation from the position of Prime Minister of the UK. She pledged that if she became the Prime Minister, she would decrease the taxes from the first day of her tenure and help people who were finding it hard to deal with the cost of living. After the resignation of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak became the frontrunners to become the Prime Minister of England. Several debates took place between both candidates in which they opposed each other. In one similar debate on a news channel, while Liz was speaking, Kate McCann, the debate moderator, fainted on stage due to which the debate had to be ceased.

As one of the largest groups of freedom-loving democracies, we must ensure there are clear benefits to remaining a member of the Commonwealth and offer nations a clear alternative to the growing malign influence from Beijing.” [18] The Hindu jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_398377_1_18').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_398377_1_18', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });

The Equality Act makes it clear that providers have the right to restrict the use of spaces on the basis of sex as currently takes place. The Government has no interest in changing the current situation where transgender people are able to use facilities of their chosen gender. I very much support your attempts to correct the record and know that you will be seeking to engage and reassure LGBT groups on these issues privately too.” [19] The i jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_398377_1_19').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_398377_1_19', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], }); The letter written by Liz to Equalities and Human Rights Commission

• Her three-bedroom detached residence, which is located 30 miles away from Norwich, is the place where the famous TV series Dad’s Army (1968-1977) was filmed.

Liz making Christmas pudding

Liz on the cover page of YOU magazine

Liz Truss meeting Queen Elizabeth II after becoming the 56th Prime Minister of England

I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made.”

I recognise that I cannot deliver the mandate on which I was elected by the Conservative Party.” [23] BBC jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_398377_1_23').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_398377_1_23', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });

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Liz Truss ignored advice to slow down given by late Queen before her passing, reveals ex-PM

• Martina Bet
• Published : 21:56, 9 Apr 2024
• Updated : 23:27, 9 Apr 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

LIZ Truss has revealed she ignored advice to slow down given by Queen Elizabeth days before the monarch’s death.

In her new book, she admitted she should have heeded the 96-year-old’s words when she was sworn in as new PM in September 2022.

Ms Truss instead charged ahead with radical economic reforms which led to her ­quitting No10 after 49 days.

The Queen was seen using a walking stick and smiling as she greeted Ms Truss in her Balmoral sitting room.

It was the last public photograph of Elizabeth before she died two days later.

Ms Truss recalled: “We spent around 20 minutes discussing politics .

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"She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty.

“Towards the end of our discussion, she warned me that being Prime Minister is incredibly ageing.

"She also gave me two words of advice — ‘Pace yourself’. Maybe I should have listened.”

In Ten Years To Save The West, she says the Queen’s death came as a “profound shock”, which left her thinking: “Why me? Why now?”

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She revealed the sight of the Queen’s coffin on television sent her “into floods of tears on the sofa” as she became “overwhelmed by the emotion of it all”.

Ms Truss, who read The Second Lesson at the late Queen’s Westminster Abbey state funeral , admitted the period of mourning was “a long way from my natural comfort zone”.

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